Amit Malviya leaks Karnataka Assembly election dates before EC’s announcement

New Delhi: The ruling BJP has egg on its face. Its Information Technology cell head Amit Malviya left the party red in the face after he announced the Karnataka Assembly polling date even before the Election Commission.

The ‘disclosure’ had even the Election Commission running for cover. Questioned about the “leak” of poll date, Chief Election Commissioner OP Rawat initially dismissed the announcement by Malviya as “conjecture” but later said he would investigate the matter and take appropriate action.

“These are conjectures. You cannot stop conjectures. Let me announce the dates and see if they are the same… But if something is leaked, the EC would conduct an inquiry,” Rawat said. However, as he announced the dates at a press conference, it turned out that the date of polling – May 12 – was the same as tweeted by Malviya. However, the date of vote count was different.

At this, Rawat told one of his Deputy Election Commissioners, Umesh Sinha: “Umesh, please find out what happened.”  Rawat then told the media: “Please rest assured that legally and administratively befitting action will be taken after an investigation.”

Also Read: Amit Malviya’s Karnataka election date tweet based on news channel report: BJP tells EC

He refused to specify what kind of action the poll body could take. “Let the facts come out. You can’t put cart before the horse,” he said. It was only around 7.45 a.m. on Tuesday that the Election Commission informed the media about the 11 a.m. press conference. The invitation did not specify that it was regarding Karnataka. The press briefing began a few minutes past 11 a.m. and Rawat dwelt on topics like poll preparedness, facilities for the voters, new initiatives and VVPATs for around 15 minutes before he came to the dates.

But at 11.08 a.m., Malviya had already tweeted the poll date. When there was an outcry, he deleted the tweet. The BJP later told the EC that Malviya’s tweet was based on a news channel’s report and a state Congress office-bearer had also tweeted about it. The party even produced screen shots of the news channel report. Later, in damage control mode, a party delegation led by Union Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi visited the commission. Malviya also wrote a letter to the poll body clarifying how he ended up tweeting what he did. The letter was made public by the BJP.

“I wish to clarify that the source of my information [posted on the tweet] was based on a newsbreak put out by Times Now, a leading national TV channel at 11.06 am,” Malviya told the EC in his letter. In an attempt to bolster his case, Malviya said that Times Now broadcast the (incorrect) dates at 11.06 am, “two minutes before I used the same information in my tweet”.

Malviya also went on to point a finger at the Congress, alleging that the party’s social media in-charge for Karnataka, Srivatsa B, too had tweeted similarly incorrect information regarding the election dates. But by then the damage was done and the Congress had latched onto the issue and dubbed the BJP “Super Election Commission”.